Documentation:Podcasting Basics Test/Main page/Script

Finish planning. Every minute you spend planning your project is worth two or three minutes of designing, recording, and editing. Before you do anything else, download and fill out this worksheet. Try to be as detailed as possible: it'll make life easier later on.

Chunk content. One of the most important features in the planning worksheet is the 'Generate Concepts' section. This will help you break your content down into easily digestible sections, a technique also known as chunking content, which involves breaking large themes down into manageable chunks or concepts. If you intend to cover 4 concepts in a single 20-minute podcast, consider breaking it into four five-minute chunks. This will make it likelier that the material will be effectively absorbed. Recent research indicates that the optimal length for student engagement is 6 minutes or less. (Guo, 2013).

Review principles. UBC's Design Principles for Multimedia provides an overview and basic framework for considering evidence based principles when designing multimedia for learning.

For more depth, have a look at Carnegie-Mellon's principles for learning, Merrill's first principles of instruction, Gagne's 9 events of instruction and Mayer's principles for multimedia development: they're all useful resources for helping you think about how to approach your presentation as a learning resource.

Create a script. Writing a script will save you time in the long run. Include what you want to say and when you want to say it, with respect to any b-roll content you might add in. Once your script is complete, you'll get a sense of the flow of your project and can make decisions about editing more easily.

• If you're doing an interview podcast, you can't write a script, but write out your questions, the order you want to ask them in, as well as anything you want to say before and after the interview.
• Make sure to rehearse your script(s), to avoid unnecessary pauses or verbal stumbles when you're recording.
• Time your script to ensure it fits within the 3-6 minute timeframe you should be aiming for.
• Try to write naturally: not only will people learn better (Mayer's 10^th principle) but it'll be easier to read from: encountering the words it is when you'd usually say 'it's is distracting, and can throw you off.
• Try to spend some time at the beginning and end of the podcast previewing/recapping what you talked about: it'll help solidify the concepts you covered in your listener's minds.